South Korea’s decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system has been a thorn in Beijing’s side for over a year. Sensitivities over the THAAD system’s radar capabilities led China to impose harsh sanctions on South Korea’s tourism sector and on key conglomerates, including (especially) the Lotte Group. Consequently, the recent resolution of this bilateral row has come as something of a surprise.
While the timing was unexpected, Beijing stands to benefit from a compromise on this issue at least three major ways. First, the agreement provides assurances from Seoul about China’s strategic position in the region. Second, the rapprochement between China and South Korea creates a better political environment for Beijing to deal with the current North Korea crisis. Finally, the agreement allows China to frame itself as the responsible power in the region while Trump is on his Asian tour.
Although Beijing failed to prevent South Korea’s deployment of THAAD altogether via unilateral sanctions and political pressure, the new agreement got Seoul to publically state it would abide by three "no’s": 1) no additional THAAD deployments in South Korea; 2) no participation in a US-led strategic missile defense system; and 3) no creation of a ROK-US-Japan trilateral military alliance. In essence, South Korea agreed to at least symbolically distance itself from a US-led strategy of containing China. Seoul left itself some wiggle room on these "no’s," but this agreement may be somewhat dissatisfying in Washington. US National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster welcomed the Sino-ROK detente, but he also hinted at US concern over South Korea’s possible decoupling from American-led security structures, saying that he does regard the three no’s as "definitive" in terms of official policy.
#3
Personally I think Trump probably worked out the timing on this with South Korea.
I wouldn't be surprised. A carrot for China as inducement for dealing with the Pudge Problem.
As for 3) no creation of a ROK-US-Japan trilateral military alliance , that wasn't going to happen, at least not formally.
Not a lot of love for Japan in China OR SKor for some historical reasons.
#4
It's eyewash for public consumption. When push comes to shove, i.e. if China invades North Korea, does anyone really think the ROK's are gonna avoid shooting down Chinese missiles? The Chinese aren't exactly known for abiding by these types of agreements, so they shouldn't be surprised when the ROK's find a reason to shirk.
Commentary on the region is filled with absurdities. Take the BS about China being concerned about NK refugees. It isn't.
For one thing, China has 1.3b people. It can easily absorb the entire NK population, which amounts to 2% of its population. Jordan has already absorbed 600K refugees amounting to 7% of its population and it has 2/3 China's GDP per capita. I suspect it's probably also clear that the Chinese government is much better organized than King Abdullah's band of Bedouins.
But the real clincher is the fact that, like West Germany in the late 80's, South Korea is prepared to take every single one of those refugees. It's China that's refusing to hand them over. So what's China really afraid of? The collapse of Li'l Kim's regime, which is nothing but a Chinese protectorate by another name.
[The Hill] Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is calling on Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore to exit the race amid allegations of an inappropriate sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl in 1979.
"The allegations against Roy Moore are deeply disturbing and disqualifying," McCain said in a statement. "He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of."
In calling for Moore to step aside, McCain joined a growing number of Senate Republicans condemning the allegations against the former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice. Of course the well documented actions of Kennedy, Clinton, Menendez, and countless others are no way a representation of total hypocrisy.
The outgoing Senate Minority Leader even bragged to CNN that the comments, which had been described as McCarthyism, helped keep Romney from winning the election.
"They can call it whatever they want. Romney didn't win did he?" Reid said during a wide-ranging interview."
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/10/2017 14:16 Comments ||
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#18
Personally I find this sort of thing disgusting and it doesn't matter if Clinton got away with it or not. IF TRUE he should be shamed out of office. If UNTRUE the ones making the claim should be prosecuted in some way shape or form.
[FreeBeacon] Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) backtracked Wednesday after previously saying the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries were "rigged."
Warren told MassLive.com on Wednesday that she believes the allegations in former acting Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile's new book, but said while the allegations showed "bias" in Hillary Clinton's favor, the primaries did not rise to the level of being "rigged."
"While there was some bias at the DNC, the overall 2016 primary process was fair and Hillary made history," she said.
A week earlier, the senator was asked by CNN's Jake Tapper whether she agreed with Brazile's allegation that the process was "rigged" in Clinton's favor. "Yes," she answered simply.
Later that same day, Warren was asked on PBS' "NewsHour" if the DNC's actions meant "the election was rigged."
"I think it was," Warren responded.
"The process was rigged and now it is up to Democrats to build a new process, a process that really works and works for everyone," she added. First Frau Brazile, now Fauxcahontas. Somebody got the word out, and the wagons are circling.
#3
"Hey, I'm gonna hafta suck up to these people..."
Posted by: ed in texas ||
11/10/2017 10:40 Comments ||
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#4
I can never see the Land O Lakes logo without thinking of the old trick where you fold it up a certain way...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/10/2017 11:05 Comments ||
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#5
So it's settled, the Donks didn't rig the election? Nothing to see here? Not true, they just got confused and briefly strayed away from the talking points and told the truth.
The news is that Clinton Crime Syndicate hasn't been taken down yet.
[DAILYCALLER] WASHINGTON ‐ Illinois Democratic Rep. Danny Davis says he sees ’nothing wrong’ with the Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, ACLU’s effort to ban the Star Spangled Banner as the country’s national anthem.
"Well, you know, one of the things about the Constitution that our forefathers wrote, and basically, there were none of our foremothers that were there. There were none of our fore-sisters there. There are changes that can take place and there is room to change," he told TheDC Thursday.
Alice Huffman, president of the California chapter of the NAACP, declared the anthem to be "racist" and that it "doesn’t represent our community. It’s anti-black people," SFGate.com, reported Wednesday. The NAACP is hoping for politicians to change it.
Davis, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus went on to say, "Intellectually, if people continue to pursue this nation to become perfected, then I see nothing wrong with that. I mean it was designed, I think they said, to form a more perfect union."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
From an article cited elsewhere on today's 'Burg: "If you want to get away with anything, you need only one skill: distraction."
#6
Whenever I read that some politician said something stupid, I go to Wikipedia and look for a picture of them. Let's just say I am rarely surprised by what they look like.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/10/2017 10:47 Comments ||
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#7
I suspect he might be particularly keen on the "Internationale".
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
